Marcus leads Valeria from the dressing court into a narrow passage used by stage workers. The copied names and every detail of the palace tablet travel with them.
Marcus Flavius
The advocate stays behind to deliver the warnings and guard the accounts. We find Titus Celer before the palace finds him first.
Behind them, the barred court grows quiet. The contract advocate remains with the sealed messages, the purse, and the witnesses, while Marcus keeps close beside Valeria.
Marcus Flavius
The households remain outside this inquiry. They applauded a fighter. We seek the man who taught the palace where to look.
At a turn beneath the Theater of Marcellus, Marcus pauses beside a stack of stage accounts. A sealed note lies tucked between wax tablets, bearing a clerk’s hurried mark.
Marcus Flavius
This was hidden among the accounts, not filed with them. It points to an evening meeting near the Forum. Celer may already know he is hunted.
The passage opens toward the service court and the city beyond. Rome’s evening noise filters through the walls, while the sealed note waits to reveal its exact meeting place.
✓ Quest Accepted
Find Titus Celer
“Why are they hunting Titus Celer? I don't even know him!”
Valeria Asiaticus
Why are they hunting Titus Celer? I do not even know him.
Marcus studies the sealed note without breaking it. Evening light reaches the service court, catching dust on the wax and the old accounts stacked nearby.
Marcus Flavius
They are not hunting him because you know him. They are hunting him because he once carried messages for your father, and the palace fears what he remembers.
He taps the clerk’s hurried mark with one scarred finger. The note names no crime, only a meeting and a warning that Celer’s testimony may connect old records to new surveillance.
Marcus Flavius
Celer may know who altered the household papers, who moved them after your father’s execution, and which clerks still answer to that old arrangement.
Valeria Asiaticus
The palace is using my name to reach people from my father’s past.
Marcus Flavius
That is why we find him first. Not to recruit him, and not to endanger your supporters. We learn what he knows, then leave him free to choose his own safety.
“"This is all very mysterious to me, but if an innocent man is in danger, I suppose we should look into it. If we're going to the Forum, we may need a good excuse for being there. I think I can spare a few coins from this prize purse to purchase a sacrifice for the temple there, in thanks for my victory. People do things like that every day, and I may even have to wait in line."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Valeria Asiaticus
It is mysterious to me, but if an innocent man is in danger, we should look into it. At the Forum, I can purchase a sacrifice for the temple, in thanks for my victory, and wait like anyone else.
Marcus accepts the purpose without argument. From the prize purse, Valeria sets aside a few coins, and together they leave the theater by the service court, keeping the sealed note among the stage accounts.
Marcus Flavius
A sacrifice gives us an ordinary reason to stand in the Forum. We ask no favors, accuse no household, and watch who notices the name Titus Celer.
At the Forum, the temple queue winds past petitioners, merchants, and families carrying small offerings. A temple attendant accepts Valeria’s coins and provides a modest dove and a clay token for the rite.
the temple attendant
Join the line beneath the portico. When your turn comes, state your thanks plainly, and the priests will record the offering.
Marcus waits with her through the public queue. Near the records tables, a familiar clerk recognizes the hurried mark on their note and quietly points toward a shuttered archive booth.
Marcus Flavius
There. The clerk says Celer came before sunset and left through the rear passage. He has gone to the records annex beside the basilica, where old executions are indexed.
+ New Item Acquired
Modest dove
+ New Item Acquired
Clay token